Messenger bots to rule us all

Intern-al Issues is a fortnightly blog written by our Intern Sean that looks at the latest issues and trends in digital marketing. Enjoy!

It is no secret, Australians LOVE Facebook!

Facebook has released some country-specific stats for their instant messaging app, announcing that 13 million Australians use Messenger monthly. With a population of 24 million, that is over half of us using messenger on a regular basis.

Because of the increasing popularity of Messenger in Australia, we will be one of the first countries outside of America to have access to the ‘Discover tab’ on Messenger. Nothing like a fresh Facebook addition to strengthen our Australian-American alliance.

Basically, Facebook will be streamlining everything we want to do on our phone through Messenger.

If we want to access breaking news, order event tickets, check the weather or order some food – these will all be automated through bots and brands on Messenger.

Atop the Discover tab will be a dashboard for you to have quick access to your 20 most recently used bots – mine would look something like; Crust pizza, The Guardian, weather, NBA, AFL and cat video bot (please exist).

There will also be a “Featured Stream” of chat bots combined with human customer service agents. To distinguish between the two, chat bots will be labelled as “automated messaging”.

From a user, this is going to make Facebook feel a lot more business-like. But, honestly, I really don’t care. Once we get this Discover tab I may just go ahead and delete half of my apps. I may even delete my internet browser. I really don’t think I will need it much longer. If I can do everything that I currently do on my smartphone through Messenger, why wouldn’t I?

My love for Messenger has grown over the past year or so. It’s not the group chats, video calls or face filters that I love. No, it is something far more simplistic that garners my loyalty.

My most common use of Facebook Messenger is sending files to MYSELF.

Yep.

Let’s say you take a photo on your phone and you need it on your computer – message it to yourself.
Or you type a document and you need it on another device – message it to yourself. Facebook messenger allows you to save time with uploading and transferring of files.

That what Facebook does best. It streamlines everything you are doing in a digital space, and makes it easier.

This is exactly what we can expect from the Messenger Discover tab.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. Facebook are taking over the world. And I am 100% cool with it. Sure, Facebook probably knows me better than I know myself. But if that is the price to pay for not having to plug a cord into my phone to transfer photos to my computer then so be it.

The future looks bright for us all. Order pizza straight from our Discover tab, put on our VR headsets and watch some original Facebook video content. Well played, Zuckerberg.